Nothing Pure) Part 2
by k.f
Summary: If you ever saw this story before you'll notice I broke it into smaller parts. There were originally 4. The story seems to have disappeared from the 'net. and I'm missing one part (a fight scene Julie VS the Dark Legion ^_^) hope you won't all notice the


  
To say that Kragok was merely surprised to find the base restored would be   
the king of all understatements. It would be like saying that space   
was just 'big' or the sun is just 'hot'. He had thought that rebuilding   
would be a long, drawn-out process and that even then it would never be   
one third as good as it used to be. Yet here he stood, with everything clean  
and new and,(hard to believe, ) better than before. There seemed to be a  
lot of effort gone into making the place look attractive, more homelike yet  
still technical looking enough for Kragok's taste. The walls were paneled   
with shining silver steel with mate black metal in a diamond shapes  
overlaying. In the center of each large diamond was a light fixture that   
looked like a mirrored triangle facing down with another triangle over it.   
Each one emitted a strange green light.   
  
The members of the Dark legion wandered around down dark halls bathed in   
the eerie green light feeling somewhat mystified. The air was damp yet as  
fresh as outside and everything seemed more alive in here. Fear may have   
held them back but curiosity and wonder beckoned them on. No one said a   
word and the silence was violated only by the humming of machines...only   
it didn't sound like any machine he had ever herd; not a whir or hum but   
more....of a breathing sound... The dim green glow was soothing yet it   
made them anxious, there was almost something...'alive' about the light.   
This place was cold and metallic but it had a certain softness to it that   
they would have found comforting had they not been so on edge. The whole  
place had a living harmonious flow, as of it were not a machine they were   
in, but the body of an animal. This idea made them more nervous.   
  
Kragok began to wonder again who could have done this. This was a  
mechanical masterpiece.   
What put him on edge was not so much the question of who had done this,   
but 'where were they?'.   
Why would they build this work of art and then leave it?   
The only solution that he could think of seemed too obvious (and to   
frightening) to mention, he didn't want to believe it but he realized that   
he must consider the possibility (and it seemed to be the same possibility   
that the others had come upon) that the builders were still here. But  
where? Their question would soon be answered.   
The layout of the base was much the same as before yet a bit smaller. The  
band reached one of the doors to the Great Hall and cautiously opened it.   
The walls, floor and ceiling were all bare. The hall itself was much larger  
than before, but it was totally vacant. There was nothing there, it simply   
seemed to be a big, empty room with no purpose....or a hidden purpose that   
he was not meant to know...   
Kragok opened his mouth to speak but the words would not come. The strange   
white creature pushed past him without a word, as if he weren't there and  
nothing had happened. As if he had not just sent a strong, heavily   
constructed, temperature resistant metal pod to hell with just a thought.   
Everyone watched as it wordlessly approached the next pod in the line. It's  
panel had a symbol of a red box with a blue triangle with the words,   
"The Second" printed near the control screen. He mindlessly pushed in a few  
codes and the red light near the top of the pod turned on and it began   
to hum softly. The creature turned a curious eye on the scrutinizing   
legionnaires and then focused again on the other pod.   
  
Kragok cautiously approached and the white echidna quickly turned his head   
and backed away.   
"We have no business with you. You who have betrayed us and come back  
again," he sneered   
"What are you talking about? We've never met. "   
"Liar. I don't remember much but I remember you did to us. Black Horde,   
who's colors we once wore, to hide our shamed faces, not knowing that the   
mask from which we hid was what further disgraced us. For your cause you   
used us. You said your purpose was restore harmony to the Mobius torn by the  
wars.....yet YOU were the REAL scourge and we were your pawns. "   
"I---"   
"GET. Out. I could have killed you but I spared your miserable lives, not   
for pity or mercy but because I don't want more blood on my hands than there  
already is."   
  
So he had been used before as Kragok had intended to use him now. He could   
still recall nothing in history about a Black Horde. This creature was   
still not lost to him. He could still win him over if he used the right  
words. Nothing was beyond the powers of a good speech carefully worded.  
As he allies said, No means maybe and maybe means yes. The creature had   
said 'no' so it was a question of maybe now. Kragok thought fast about what   
to say then, once he found it, he turned the melodrama on high.   
He walked over and placed his claw on the arm of the creature as  
the second pod hummed and hissed.   
"There now, my friend, my brother. Now that the evil, cursed Black   
Horde has been vanquished at our hands you need no more blood on yours.  
You can now have the acceptance you've wanted. We accept you."   
"The Black Horde is dead? Who are you then? Why do you wear THEIR   
robes?"   
The other Legionnaires were drastically confused at first but quickly   
caught on to what their master was doing. If he could use lies and lead that   
thing to trust him he would be it's master and wield it's power with the   
creature being none the wiser. They only hoped that it didn't blow up in his  
face...   
" It was a long, hard battle. You slept for many years as it raged. I,   
the...son of your creator have ended the strife that my family has   
struggled for years to end. I was told by the diary of my father that there  
was a place here that we must come when the battle was won. Though I knew   
not what was here I led my troops here. I admit that I am still finding out   
much the past that I do not know."   
" You and I both then. That still doesn't explain why you wear the colors   
of our enemy, though. So you are the master's real son...(That means I   
must respect you)"   
  
Kragok would have been put on the spot by that one but as luck or fate   
would have it there was a convenient distraction: The door of the   
second pod swung upward and opened.   
The girl held her arms as if very cold. It was understandable since she   
was still wet and the room was freezing. She seemed not to see anyone but   
looked around the room in disbelief.   
"I never thought I'd see this again." she whispered to herself.   
"What is this...feeling? am I alive again. I was prepared for eternal sleep.   
I was prepared to face the void alone, forever. I never thought that I'd  
face life again. I was not prepared. I...forget it.   
I forget life!" In the cool and bitter room she sank to her knees on the   
shining metal floor and gazed at her reflection in it. Without a word or   
tear she simply sat and existed. And she thought about existing and about   
life and she saw her dim reflection in the green light of the room and it   
seemed as though she was in the dreamworld again. Dead on the outside, dead   
golden eyes ...  
The white creature broke away from the Dark Legion and Kragok's grip on his  
shoulder. There were tears in his eyes and it seemed as if he could not  
bring himself to approach the other, she still saw nothing and sat as a   
ghost would, silently and calmly. from a few feet away he stretched out his  
hand towards her.   
"C- Celebra?" he stammered. Her head snapped towards him and she looked   
him up and down then her face brightened and happy tears streamed down her   
cheeks.   
"Ayashi? ...Ayashi!" She ran over and hugged him tightly. He sensed the   
eyes of the legion on him and looked up nervously.   
  
As Kragok and the others were wandering in the fortress Julie-Su had snuck  
off, trying to get far away from that zone. To her surprise she had walked   
only a short distance and found Knuckles alone near the old Mount Fate in  
the marble zone. This wasn't a place where anyone usually went and she   
wondered what he was doing way out here. He had been meditating again...  
something he seemed to do far too often in her opinion. His fire ant   
teacher Archemedes encouraged him to do it every day. He was mumbling  
something angrily interjecting his grumbles with the meditative 'Om'   
sound.   
"Om......Stupid Archimedes and his meditation!.....Om......Stupid cold!   
Stupid ant, make sit and be cold! Om. Stupid snow!"   
  
Julie-Su didn't interrupt him but rather crept up from behind and waited  
until he was finished to sneak up on him. He continued to mumble complaints   
"Om..........I'm missing the winter carnival! Stupid friends, probably   
having the time of their life without me. Om. Stupid, boring meditation,  
Where's Julie-Su? She's always around but not when I'm bored. Om.........  
.. Stupid Julie-Su.....Om..... Probably out chasing beetles in the   
Sandopolis Zone with the rest of the Legion loosers.....Om......."   
  
Julie-Su continued to wait. A few minutes later he got up and turned   
around nearly bumping into her.   
"Hey, Red." She said pulling down her black hood. Knuckles noticed an   
angry frowning sort of smile on her face. She must have herd all that   
'Stupid Julie-Su' stuff he said.   
"I knew you were there." he said lamely   
"Yea, right."   
"No, I really did know you were there."   
"Whatever."   
Knuckles didn't feel that he could waste the energy to argue. He was   
hungry and tired.   
Archemedes had been planing to send him out into the wilderness for   
some little fasting/meditation thing for quite some time. It was supposed   
to last for three days and he was supposed to go for the whole three days   
without sleep, water, food or contact with anyone. He was supposed to be   
alone right now meditating. He didn't tell his friends where he was going  
(or that he was going at all for that matter!). In fact they had expected  
him to be at the winter carnival watching them in the big ice boat race,  
not allowed to compete himself because he wasn't 16 yet.  
He expected that they were probably pretty mad that he didn't show up.   
  
The journey had begun this morning in the marble zone while Kragok had been  
giving his 'Tired of tents' oration to his minions.   
During this journey Knux would have to traverse the whole island on foot.  
He was only about five hours into his trip when he became desperately bored   
and hungry (All he ate for breakfast was a few grapes.) when Julie-Su came  
along. He was so happy to see her (or anyone for that matter)that he had a  
hard time keeping up his usual appearance of apathy towards her. He didn't   
care about breaking the rules about seeing people right now, She'd only   
stick around for a while anyway since Kragok was keeping heavy tabs on her   
now.   
"So what are you up to way out here?" Julie-Su asked him, her anger fading.   
"Fasting. Meditating. Ya know the usual thing."   
"Fasting?"   
"Yea, that's when you don't eat and stuff."   
"Why? For how long?"   
"Just three days. This is supposed to be a three day journey to 'find my   
soul' or something, It's not my Idea. Archimedes is making me" he rolled his   
eyes then turned up his nose and mimicked Archimedes's voice,   
"No food, no water, no people. To find answers you must look   
within yourself, Bla bla. This isn't a journey through the Floating island,  
it's a journey through your own consciousness. You have to thin about   
nothing and concentrate on the answers. Your father did this and his   
father blablabla! I suck. Bal bla! So basically it means I have to do   
it too."   
"No people?"   
"Yes. I guess I am bending the rules some. So what's up in Dark Legion   
Land?" he said trying to change the subject.   
"Are you going to ask if we caught any sand beetles lately? Is that what  
you think we do?"   
"You aren't STILL mad about that? I was angry when I said it. I want to  
know what you've been up to. It's been a couple of days since I saw you."  
he said.   
  
Julie-Su paused for a moment. At first wondering if this was genuine   
caring or a form a sarcasm. Or maybe it was an act, maybe he was just  
using her to get to the Dark Legion.   
That had always been a small fear tucked away in the back of her mind;   
was he just pretending to be a friend so he could bring the Legion down   
from the inside?   
She wanted to tell him how she felt that something bad was going to happen  
whenever she thought of the base or the freedom fighters or him. She wanted  
to tell him about what she had herd about the old base being restored,  
but she wasn't sure that she had herd right. She didn't know what else   
could have excited Kragok so much but she wasn't sure that the information  
was right. It seemed improbable that everything was fixed so naturally she  
was slow to believe. She also felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to   
tell Knuckles of the feeling of danger she had, it might scare him,or he  
might just laugh at her intuition...   
  
The other reason she hesitated to tell him was that if he tried to stop  
them from using their old headquarters Kragok would know that she had been   
communicating with the guardian. He probably suspected treachery in her all  
along.   
She remembered the piercing mechanical stare he had given her. Every time he  
glanced her way she felt as though he knew exactly what she was thinking and  
was waiting for the right second to expose her.  
She wasn't a popular member of the Dark Legion but they seemed to keep her  
around for some reason. She could never get kicked out, one more screw  
up would kill her. They would never simply let her go... She searched  
for the right words to tell him what she wanted to,   
  
"We're leaving camp the Sandopolis zone." She said. Her eyes wouldn't meet   
this for some reason but that was a good enough answer. It wasn't a lie.   
"Where are you going." Knuckles asked. Something told him that she was  
hiding something.   
Julie-Su was always hiding something. She existed in two worlds that could  
never come together, and she struggled with all her power to keep them apart.   
She always changed the subject when questions of he past or family were   
raised but Knux understood that... this was different. The Legion was   
dangerous, anything about plans or important stuff like that could pose a   
threat to the Floating island...maybe Mobius as well. He had to draw it out   
of her.   
"You know the old base?"   
Knux laughed,   
"Yea, That place is trashed good! Good luck fixin' it, Babe! Maybe by the   
time your eighty you'll be halfway done!"   
"NEVER CALL ME THAT!!! and for your information it's already fixed!"   
(How could I have let that slip out! aww!, too late he knows now) Knux drew   
back and looked away. He looked away mostly so she wouldn't see he was   
smiling. He loved making her mad like that. They always bickered like that.   
Then it hit him how weird it was that the Dark Legion's old digs were back  
up and running. It couldn't be... he had seen that dump wasted only a few  
months ago. It totally overloaded.   
"You're joking...right?...I mean...how?"   
"I don't know... That's just what I herd... but I dunno, Knux. I've got  
a bad feeling about all this..."   
"Bad feeling?"   
"Yea, like when you're a little kid and you think there's, like, a monster  
under your bed or something? When ever you have to go to bed at night you  
get this sinking feeling? 'cause you think it's going to get you....Well   
that's what it was like when I was around the old base."   
"You think there's a monster in the old Dark Legion H.Q. because of   
something you might have misheard?" He said in a disbelieving, somewhat   
condescending tone.   
"No! Well, I don't know what exactly but..."   
"Your afraid of it?"   
Just then a strange thought hit her.   
"....No, Knux. I think I'm afraid FOR it."   
  
  
Knuckles paused for a moment not knowing what to say. There was silence   
between them, an uncomfortable silence.   
"I guess I better go then." Julie-Su said "...If you're breaking the   
rules...I don't want you to get in trouble."   
"It's OK."   
Julie-Su started to wander off, "What if the Legion starts to cause trouble  
and you're not here?"  
she asked   
"I don't think that the island is going to fall out of the sky if I stop  
thinking about it for five seconds."   
He smiled. ", Anyway I gotta hike to Angel's island about now if I want to   
cross the whole island in time. I'll catch ya later..., babe." He said  
using a precious bit of energy in ruining off. It was worth it to get the  
last word in and make her mad.   
"DON'T CALL ME BABE!" She yelled after him. "He did that just to get  
me mad!'' she growled.   
It was no use yelling at him he was gone. Julie-Su sighed, pulled up the   
hood of her cloak and started her trip back to the site where the legion  
was before anyone realized that she was gone.   
  
By the time she got there Kragok was up on a makeshift platform with a  
podium about to give another speech. Everyone waited attentively for   
him to begin, but Kragok waited just as attentively for their 'New friends'  
to arrive.   
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Haven  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Hidden from the sight of Knuckles and Julie-Su was a tiny floating camera.  
Sometimes when she was with Knuckles Julie-Su felt like she was being   
watched but didn't think much of it. There probably wasn't anyone really   
watching anyway, she would think.  
A tiny figure was standing on a big control panel of a huge monitoring  
system. He was a fire ant. He wore dull green boots, vest and a hat.   
Siting in a chair behind him was an echidna with gloves Similar to   
Knuckle's. He was trying to hide a small laugh.  
"What's so funny, Locke?" Archemedes almost snarled  
"He reminds me of me when you made me do that stupid meditation trip."  
"You were never that obnoxious."  
"You thought so when I was his age!"  
"I hate young guardians."  
"No matter," Locke brought himself back to his usual state of seriousness,  
it was needed for dealing with the matter at hand. In Haven they would  
wait in the shadows and intervene if necessary. Archimedes was annoyed  
that Knuckles had broken one of the many rules that had been set out  
for him but it might become necessary to break more if he was to protect  
the island from this new threat. The matter was not that serious yet,   
however.   
  
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Ayashi's room Inside the fortress  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"I don't like it, Cel." Ayashi said, or rather thought. Whenever they were   
alone they would communicate with thoughts rather than words like many of  
...  
  
No one was feeling right today. They had just woke up after being   
frozen for a number of years in cryogenic suspension. Ayashi was   
suspicious, Code was unusually whiny and Akuma was irritable.   
Celebra was anxious. She wasn't used to living. When the Snow crab,   
Metellius ushered her into the life pod and she had prepared herself for   
the fact that no one would ever wake them up. She felt that every   
second led her closer to death and she was aware of the death of the   
bacteria all around her. She dreaded going topside and seeing all the   
death out there.   
  
Spade remembered stepping inside and watching the door come down.   
There was a great number of his brothers and sisters outside, but they   
did not say 'good-bye' no one said good-bye, everyone wanted to   
believe that someone would wake them up in the future but it was   
unlikely that anyone but the Black Horde would. The sleek metal   
smooth floor felt pleasantly cool on his bear feet, he stood straight in   
the position that he would assume for his long dormancy period with his   
head bowed and arms crossed. Metal hooks snapped hold of his   
shoulders, legs and waist and a breathing mask was clasped over his   
open mouth. This all happened in a heartbeat, monitoring system wires   
wrapped around him like snakes, with minds of their own. A pipe near   
the bottom near the back of the pod ,that he could see slightly if he   
turned his head enough, was ejaculating the clear life preservation   
liquid into the capsule. This special liquid could change temperatures   
quickly and as soon as the space inside the pod was full of the liquid he   
would be flash frozen. Within 5 seconds even his now warm body would   
be at absolute zero and dead to the world.   
As the liquid flooded above his eyes he could no longer see the outside   
through his small window. He felt a great lingering bitterness for this   
world.   
Now he was awake and all he could think about was how the world had   
shunned him.   
He wanted revenge.   
  
"Fine I'll wear it, but I don't want to" sighed Code.   
"I'm sure none of the guys want you to either." Spade joked   
"What's that supposed to mean?!"   
"Ayashi, I think it's time to go up and meet the Black Hor--- I mean the   
Dark Legion." Celebra interrupted   
"(Who are they?)" wondered Akuma   
Celebra answered out loud for the benefit of Sister Third,   
"Our saviors. Their leader is a descendant of the master. They wear   
the cloaks of the Horde."   
"Cel is right. (sort of) Everyone, let's go." They started off, "Wait!"   
he said stopping abruptly   
"What about our brothers and sisters who have yet to awaken?"   
"We left Chash in the Great hall while we went to find you. He'll stay   
with them." Akuma said.   
"Ok. Let's get this over with."   
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End file.
